Rise in empty shops

The London high streets worst hit by the recession were revealed today.

Figures showed the effect of the slump on 16 streets where more than one in 10 shops stand empty.

The recession has left some of the capital's shopping thoroughfares with nearly a third of shops vacant.

Worst hit is Yiewsley, West Drayton, where nearly one in three local shops have closed down.

This is a stark deterioration from a year ago, when the vacancy rate was less than four per cent.

Lee Green in Lewisham is another struggling high street. A year ago fewer than one in ten shops were empty, now more than a quarter are.

In Hanwell, just west of Ealing, there were hardly any empty shop units this time last year. Now one in four stand vacant. Even formerly thriving areas like Ilford, Balham and Dalston, are now seeing very high vacancy rates. The British Property Federation said the findings are "evidence of how badly the property and retail sectors have been hit".

Liz Peace, BPF chief executive, said: "Smaller centres have to reinvent themselves in terms of convenience and we need to properly work out what smaller towns are for, as they've just accumulated problems over the years. Second-rate retailers have been found out by the recession.

"The problem is many shops won't come back, because there isn't the demand. It's a travesty that so many towns have cut their own throats in terms of planning charges and traffic restrictions." Bucking the trend are Crouch End, Canary Wharf, Hackney and Barnes, where the vacancy rate is almost nil.